Warning: this article was written by Yvonne Ridley, the sad case journo who went to Afghanistan, was kidnapped by the Taliban, then converted to Islam after being released, in a bizarre case of deferred Stockholm Syndrome. Since then she has been active in agitating for Muslim causes and is national chairman of the Muslim-dominated Respect party. Apparently, she now lives in Scotland.

THE Yes campaign may be gaining in momentum but its success or failure could be determined by an unlikely group of Scots – those coming from the Muslim community.

They represent less than 2 per cent of the Scottish population but in a battle that has divided public opinion some are beginning to wonder if Muslims could swing the balance of power. Campaigners on both sides are slogging it out for every single vote and the final battleground could be fought in those households belonging to Scotland’s most recent arrivals.

That Muslims in Scotland could produce a Bannockburn-style victory for the Yes campaign has not been lost on the SNP. They might represent only 1.4 per cent of the population in Scotland but in a country which could be split down the middle come next year, Muslims could tip the vote in favour of independence.

Census figures released at the end of September show that in the last decade the number of Muslims in Scotland has nearly doubled, from 40,000 to 77,000. More confident than their English counterparts, it seems integration – while preserving religious identity – has been much easier than elsewhere in the UK. This was supported in 2010 by a poll, for the British Council Scotland, which found six out of ten Scots believed Muslims were integrated into everyday Scottish life.

The survey, carried out by Ipsos Mori, also revealed that 46 per cent of those questioned thought that Muslims living in Scotland were loyal to the country. Will that loyalty prove stronger than loyalty to the Union? A leading question indeed and one that, for the time being, remains unanswered.

Rowena Arshad, director of the Centre for Education for Racial Equality in Scotland, said at the time: “The finding that 65 per cent of survey respondents have some degree of favourability towards Muslims is, to some extent, reassuring, regarding the future of Scottish community relations.

“Scotland is a small country but, as the research shows, there is potential that it is not a country of small minds.”

The concept of independence is nothing new for the older generations in the Muslim community and their influence could also sway the younger ones, especially those drawn from Pakistan and Indian communities, which emerged as sovereign nations following the end of the British Raj rule in 1947.

The Bangladeshi communities had to wait until 1971 before enjoying the same status, so could this now be seen as an opportunity to strike back at Empire after generations of their ancestors were forced to endure British colonialism?

yvonne my favourite fish wife! never saw anyone look as ridicoulos in muslima garb!since her "epiphany"looked as if she's about to go on shift at a fish gutting factoryabsolutely no disrespect to fish guttersas I'msure they change their clothes when the shift is done!!

As I correctly suspected. I can find few examples more clearly defining the word whore than this creature. Via wikipedia:

Ridley has married five times. She married her first husband when she was 22; the marriage was short lived. Her second marriage to a policeman lasted seven years.[1] Her third husband was Daoud (David) Zaaroura, the CEO of North of England Refugee Service and a former PLO officer. Zaaroura was a PLO colonel when Ridley met him in Cyprus, where she was working on an assignment for the Newcastle-based Sunday Sun. They had one daughter called Daisy who was born in 1992. Her fourth husband, to whom she was married until 1999, was Israeli Ilan Hermosh. Her fifth is an Algerian.